by Mary Spiller
December 26, 2025
Fibrebond workers obtained life-changing payouts after the agency’s former chief made employee compensation a non-negotiable situation of a $1.7 billion acquisition.
Greater than 500 staff at a Louisiana manufacturing firm referred to as Fibrebond obtained surprising six-figure bonuses this yr after their CEO insisted workers share within the proceeds of a multibillion-dollar sale.
Fibrebond, a modular development agency based mostly in Minden, was acquired earlier this yr by energy administration firm Eaton for $1.7 billion. As a part of the deal, former CEO Graham Walker required that 15% of the sale value — roughly $240 million — be put aside for the corporate’s 540 full-time workers, though none held firm inventory.
Walker, 46, advised The Wall Road Journal that the situation was agency. “The requirement was non-negotiable,” he mentioned, explaining that longtime workers who helped the corporate survive repeated downturns deserved to learn from its success.
Below the settlement, staff are receiving bonuses averaging about $443,000 per particular person, paid out over 5 years. Staff with longer tenures are receiving considerably extra, based on the newspaper.
In June, workers got sealed envelopes detailing their particular person awards. The response, Walker mentioned, was fast and emotional. Some staff cried, others sat in silence, and some initially believed the information was a joke.
One in all them was Lesia Key, a 29-year veteran of Fibrebond who started working on the firm in 1995, incomes $5.35 an hour. Now 51, she oversees services throughout the corporate’s 254-acre campus and manages 18 workers. After opening her letter, she broke down in tears.
“Earlier than, we have been going paycheck to paycheck,” Key mentioned. “I can dwell now.”
Key used her bonus to repay her mortgage and launch a clothes boutique in a close-by city. Different staff used their cash to remove debt, buy autos outright, cowl faculty tuition, or enhance retirement financial savings. One worker took their prolonged household on a visit to Cancún.
Hong “TT” Blackwell, 67, who labored greater than 15 years in Fibrebond’s logistics division, obtained a number of hundred thousand {dollars} and selected to retire instantly. “Now I don’t have to fret,” she mentioned. “My retirement is good and peaceable.”
Although taxes took practically $100,000 of her payout, Blackwell mentioned the rest was nonetheless transformative.
The inflow of money rapidly unfold by way of Minden, a city of about 12,000. Mayor Nick Cox advised the Journal that native companies observed a direct improve in spending. “There’s quite a lot of buzz concerning the sum of money being spent,” he mentioned.
Fibrebond was based in 1982 by Walker’s father, Claud Walker, and survived a manufacturing unit fireplace, market collapses, and near-bankruptcy earlier than rebounding with a high-risk pivot into information middle infrastructure.
That gamble paid off as demand surged through the pandemic. Walker mentioned each potential purchaser heard the identical situation. When requested why he selected 15%, he replied merely, “It’s greater than 10%.”
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